Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Glam Lumberjack Jam

~ Etc.

I went to a dance party hosted by Susan Peterson, the owner of Freshly Picked.  The theme was Lumberjack Glam and it was for all the mamas that wanted to dance their ax off!  Over 300+ mamas came to shake it and it was so much fun.  It’s funny how I never go to dance parties now since I’m married with 3 kids, but I went to two dance parties in one month!  I’m so wild and crazy, I know.  I think being a mom is very isolating at times and you don’t get much adult interaction, so I think it’s great they are starting to have parties for us moms.

photos via justin hackworth & smilebooth
I danced my ax off so hard it was hurtin’ the next morning! 🙂

Adi’s Chef birthday party

~ PARTY

We had a chef birthday party, requested by my 6 year old birthday girl.  We kept it small & intimate and invited some of her friends from school.  Each kid received a chef hat upon entering the party and we went straight to cooking!  They rolled out their pizza dough and got to put their own toppings on their pizza, and while we waited for the pizza to bake, we played games and played outside.  After eating their pizza, they each received their own cakes to decorate and take home!  I made an oreo ice-cream cake, Adi’s favorite cake in the world which is so easy to make(oreo pie crust + oreo ice-cream + whip cream + oreos on top), and finished the party with opening the presents. 
Being the lover of party planning, I wanted to make an apron for each child with a matching fabric chef hat, but I knew it’d be too much for me to handle right now, so I didn’t.  And you know what?  I am so glad I didn’t.  I’m a huge fan of simplifying life lately and saying no when needed(which is really really hard for me), but I’m getting better and I’m pretty proud of myself!
Happy birthday my intelligent and kind-hearted 6 year old girl.  I love you forever.

Bright Night Event

~ Etc.

Gold sequin dress: Romwe | tights: H&M | red ankle boots: Sears
I went to a fabulous party with my friend Kim, hosted by Amy Twitty @pinkparlordesigns,Shelley Smith @houseofsmiths, Ashley Reeves @ashleyrosereeves, and Haylie Studebaker @layersclothing.   There were delicious treats and drinks, we made crafts, donated our favorite things to the Women’s Shelter, and danced the night away!  And yes, that’s me doing the escalator.  I know you’re so bummed you missed it.  

Baby Shower

~ Etc.

I threw my friend a baby shower.  We had make-it-yourself spring rolls, banana creme pie, pani popo, fruit & popcorn.  If you’re wondering what in the world pani popo is, it is a Samoan bread baked in a creamy, sweet, sticky coconut sauce and it is SO good (I’ll post the recipe soon)!  We had the shower just in time because she just had her baby boy yesterday!  Congratulations Jihae, I love you!

Ana’s Power Ranger party

~ PARTY

Our girls have been into Power Rangers as of late so it was no surprise when Ana asked for a Power Ranger birthday party.  I’ve always told my daughters that there are no such thing as “girl toys” or “boy toys”, and if you like playing with trucks or tools, go right ahead.  If you like princesses and dolls, go right ahead also.  I tell them to not let anyone tell you what’s weird or appropriate to play with if that’s what you’re interested in. So I was more than happy to plan this birthday party for Ana.
rice krispies sushi as a party favor
power ranger cupcakes
fruit swords
spam musubi
healthy veggie & fruit juice
sandwich sushi w/ pickles, ham & cheese
rice krispies sushi on a platter
After everyone ate lunch, we started a Power Ranger training camp.  There were 5 training courses, each course representing a member of the Power Ranger and their strength/talent.   In order to become an official Power Ranger, they had to complete each course.
Training course #1 was STRENGTH which is the green Power Ranger, and they had to compete in a tug of war to prove their strength. 

I forgot to take pictures of the next two signs because I was too busy running the party but training #2 was LOYALTY which is the blue Power Ranger, and a bad samurai came to the party to recruit any bad
guys/girls to join his team.  All the trainees had to prove their loyalty and pick which side they were on.  Fortunately, they all picked my side(the good side of course;), and threw water balloons at the bad samurai to chase him away.
his appearance alone made two little girls cry and they wanted to go home.  oops….
he would catch some of the water balloons and kept throwing them at me! bad samurai!  
but in the end we conquered.

Training #3 was LEADERSHIP which is the red Power Ranger, and for this game we played Simon Says.

Training #4 was POWER which is the yellow Power Ranger and a sensei came and taught the trainees some karate moves.  He had a little helper too.

Training #5 was LOVE which is the pink Power Ranger, and not pictured, but for this course they had to complete an obstacle course.  They had to climb under a chair, then grab a ball that was sitting on the chair which they had to kick or hold while they ran to the trampoline.  Once they got to the trampoline, they had to jump as high as they could 10 times, then climb up and down two slides in a row, then run to the kitty pools that were filled with water floating with many “bad guys”.  There was one “good guy” that was drowning in the water and they had to find it and save it by scooping it up with a net.
after they completed the training camp, each trainee received a Power Ranger certificate, a sword & a belt.
then time for some cupcakes!

For the kids birthday parties I always set a budget of $100, and I went $30 over the budget with this party due to the high number of attendees(every single person we invited came to celebrate with us, all 15 of them!).  But I tell myself since I bought bulks of ingredients to make the food and snacks at Sam’s Club with lots of left over ingredients that we will use, it winds down to roughly $100. 😉  

Ana’s sister Adi told me after the party that for her birthday party she wants a yellow Power Ranger birthday party.  So I might be doing this same exact party all over again, but in yellow!

Links/tips: Rice krispies sushi, sushi green grass from ebay, sushi box from a friend who owns a sushi shop, power ranger cupcakes from Walmart, sandwich sushi.

*disclaimer: I googled “power ranger certificate” and found an image that I just printed for the certificate and the training camp signs my husband made with Photoshop.  I no longer send the certificate because I have no copyright of the image and feel dishonest if I send it out.  I get emails frequently about this and I had to turn down every single one, so please understand and I apologize about that!